A Hersheys Kiss and Opening Reception Tonight at the Art League

These should probably be two separate posts -- but... Tonight's the opening reception at the Art League for the "Small Works" show where my painting "Orange Peeled" won Best of Show, the Bob Hof Award. The reception's from 6:30 to 9:30 with the Award Ceremony starting around 7pm. The Art League is located at 105 N. Union Street, Alexandria, VA.








The "Small Works" show was juried by Dr. Susan Frank, assistant curator at the Phillips Collection. Here's an excerpt from the Jurors Dialogue written by Erica Fortwengler at the Art League:

"I was looking for something a little different – a fresh take on a traditional subject such as still life, figure, landscape. I have a particular fondness for still life. I am interested to see how an artist can take a traditional subject like still life and make it new and interesting."

The pieces Frank selected as award winners are reflective of the works seen throughout the show. Frank awarded "Orange Peeled," by Jill Banks best in show. "This is a fresh take on still life, a different perspective."

"Hershey's Kiss" is the latest painting a day. The reflections in the wrapper are tough! It's a slightly different size, 6"h x 4"w, oil on stretched canvas. Most of the paintings you see on this blog are for sale. For the little ones -- the paintings a day pieces, I'm still trying to figure out a price, but I'll entertain any offers. Pretend like this is Priceline. Email me at jillbanks1@aol.com or call 703.403.7435. I'm thinking about getting set up on Ebay to try to make purchases easier. I do accept Mastercard and Visa payments. "Hershey's Kiss" copyright Jill Banks 2008.

Cupcake Alla Prima Painting a Day

So, "Cupcake" is yesterday's painting a day. It's 5" x 5", oil on stretched canvas, copyright Jill Banks 2008 ... so I'm back to the mini paintings and note: single object only (unless individual sprinkles count). Soooo much faster and easier!

Funny thing about all these paintings of food lately is that I've been on the South Beach diet for the last three weeks. So I get to stare at these goodies and paint them ... but not eat them.

This Painting a Day Took Two

I've been dying to post this one. I painted "Sunday Morning" on Saturday -- all day until my arm felt like it was going to fall off. Then I put some finishing touches on it today.

This is too large a painting for me to accomplish in one session -- at least for this detailed a style. It breaks every rule ... multiple objects, size of canvas, degree of finish. But I loved doing it!

I was tackling this project for two reasons ... my painting a day schedule plus my artist colleagues and I are putting on an exhibit of artwork featuring coffee cups (or teacups) to be displayed at the Conscious Bean in December. The Conscious Bean is a coffee shop across the street from my studio in Great Falls, VA. The Conscious Bean is located at: 10123 Colvin Run Rd
Great Falls, VA 22066. Phone: 571-237-3886

"Sunday Morning", 12" x 12", oil on canvas, copyright Jill Banks 2008. All rights reserved.

Today's Donuts: A Painting a Day Continues

I bought six donuts today at Dunkin' Donuts... all different and chosen for their beauty, not to eat. So, I have some subjects for the next few days. Today's discovery? Sprinkled donuts take longer to paint than plain ones and powdered sugar ones make pretty interesting subjects. "Four Square", oil on linen, 5" x 5", copyright Jill Banks 2008.

Alla Prima Painting a Day

So, after having just won the "Best of Show" for a small works -- I started painting even smaller. These two paintings -- the "Donut" from Tuesday and the "French Bread" done today are both 5" x 5" on gallery wrapped canvases. I really want to get into creating one each day -- or at least close. I bought a bunch of canvases at Plaza this am -- so I'm ready to go!

These are ridiculously fun to do... and hopefully will be fun to collect. They are painted alla prima -- or all at once, wet-into-wet oils. I work at getting it right from first to last brushstroke.

"Best of Show" - More Info

"Orange Peeled" won the Bob Hof Award for "Best of Show" in the "Small Works" Exhibit at the Art League (Alexandria, VA). That's number 1 out of 538 entries. The awards ceremony will be at the Art League on Thursday, November 13 around 7pm. The reception runs from 6:30 to 9:30pm.

Randy and I went back down to Alexandria today to take a photo of "Orange Peeled" and one of me. There will be a lettering added to the wall plus a tag with blue ribbon before the awards ceremony comes around. I'll show you that next week.

The Art League is located at 105 North Union Street, Alexandria, VA.

My name also appears in the December issue of Artist's Magazine -- as I was a finalist in their Annual Art Competition. Just a note: in 2005, I won my first Best of Show at the Art League and was a finalist in Artist's Magazine's Annual Art Competition for the first time. This year is my second time winning both of those honors.

My Mom's doing better -- out of the ICU and emailing me encouraging words. That's the best news.

"Best of Show" at the Art League

Last night, Randy and I trekked down to Alexandria, VA to the Torpedo Factory to enter this month's "Small Works" and "Large Works" shows at the Art League. Regular readers know that I torture myself over what to enter and where my various pieces should be. This evening, after teaching my portrait painting class in Great Falls I called the Art League to see whether or not my pieces got in. Rose O'Donnell, the Gallery Director who I know well ... and love ... answered the phone. She told me in her most nonchalant voice that no, sorry, #76 didn't get in. Oh, and #77, my second entry in the "Small Works" show won Best of Show!!!! I couldn't believe it! Really.

The award winner is "Orange Peeled", oil on Raymar panel, 8" x 6", $450. Contact the Art League if you are interested in purchasing. The juror for the Small Works show was Dr. Susan Frank, Assistant Curator at the Phillips Collection. Nice!

I last won Best of Show at the Art League in 2005 with "Alice with a Bad Case of Wanderlust." The Art League, with its 1000+ artist members is very competitive with a high caliber of art work in each of its monthly shows. This is an exciting honor indeed!

On a personal note, my Mom was operated on today to remove a parathyroid gland at NIH. The operation went smoothly with the outcome as expected according to my Dad. Tonight she moved into the ICU because of an irregular heartbeat ... so all the people who love her -- which probably is the whole world, and if it isn't, it should be ... will be anxiously awaiting news that all is completely well. I LOVE YOU MOM.

Christmas Boutique at American Plant

Today I took over five pieces of work to American Plant at 10106 Georgetown Pike (Great Falls, VA 22066) -- a beautiful nursery on Georgetown Pike in Great Falls that offered to sell work by local artists and artisans for the holidays. There's a cozy little outbuilding on the premises where Great Falls Studios artists have set up pottery, quilted pillows and art quilt hangings, photograms, and paintings. This may be an odd venue, but many of us find it difficult to make what we do accessible to the public for extended hours. This seems a perfect opportunity to make holiday gift shopping a little more enjoyable for local residents.



My five pieces are "Tony", 36" x 30", oil on linen; "Banana Bread", 14" x 11", oil on linen; "Lilacs", 14" x 11", oil on linen; "Sidewalk Sale", 8" x 10", oil on linen, and "Cherub", graphite on paper. Copyright Jill Banks. All rights reserved.

Contact American Plant at (703) 438-8880 or www.americanplant.net

Commissioning a Portrait

There's something about turning the calendar page to November that triggers an almost Pavlovian portrait commissioning response. As an artist who accepts commissions, I can feel the earth rumble. Soon, the deluge will come.

If you're thinking about commissioning a portrait, I want to talk to you about your ideas, but I also thought I could help with a few pointers and ideas of my own. Please also visit my web site: www.jillbanks.com and see the Gallery pages (Portraits & Figures and the Places pages) plus the Commissioning a Portrait page. The Places page shows my unique approach to painting people. I am painting a whole series depicting real people (husband Randy and me included) dining in restaurants and just enjoying special, relaxed moments. These are paintings that weren't actually commissioned -- but many (a whole lot) of them have ended up in the homes of the pictured subjects (or their relatives). Some are still for sale -- through me or through Chasen Galleries (in Richmond, VA and Charlotte, NC). Give me a call at (703) 403-7435 or email me at jillbanks1@aol.com if you are interested in a piece.


In the Places gallery on my web page you can see that I love depicting people as naturally as possible... and particularly enjoy showing relationships and interactions between the painting's subjects. I could work with you to achieve a similar portrait of you, your family and your friends. This isn't the simplest approach to portraiture, but it is a great celebration of life. (I can and do paint more traditional portraits -- they can be the right way to go, too.)

For each of the paintings depicted in the Places gallery, I used photography that I had taken myself -- often using many photos as references, and then recreated some portion of the painting to work from life. An example is on "Randy and Me" shown above. This depicts my husband and I at a great restaurant in Santa Fe where we managed to garner the window table. Randy walked outside and took my photo, and I did the same for him. I used a composite of the two to understand how we looked together and to capture the background. Then, I painted myself looking at the mirror (didn't use the photo at all) and had my husband pose for me sitting on a stool. While that's a lot of juggling to pull the portrait together, the result is one that really rings true for the two of us. It's us.

Start thinking. What would be right for you?

By the way, I am dying to paint a dancer or dancers. This image has been "dancing" around in my head for about a year. This stems from my personal attachment to my "Bellydancer" paintings and seeing John Singer Sargent's "El Jaleo" painting at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. (This is the second time I've mentioned this ... hmmm.) Maybe Flamenco dancers, a scene from a wedding reception ... something exciting. I'm a collaborative painter -- I welcome other people's ideas. You can comment on this post or drop me an email at jillbanks1@aol.com.


Coming posts will give ideas for Christmas gifts, and much more about commissioning a portrait. Stay tuned.

"Randy and Me", 30"h x 40"w, oil on linen; "Jason", 16"h x 12"w, oil on linen-lined board; "Friends (in Florence)",11"h x 14"w, oil on linen-lined board. All paintings copyright Jill Banks. All rights reserved.

More Local Press

Last week, the Great Falls Connection ran a wonderful article, "Great Falls Takes Art Tour" on the Studio Art Tour. Mollie Vardell, fellow studiomate, friend and the head of the Great Falls Foundation of the Arts was on the cover, painting away in the Atelier! Adrienne Kralick and I were interviewed and pictured on Page 3. The reporter, Mike DiCicco from the Connection was over in our area when a group of tour goers were asking about portraiture, working from photos, how long it took, etc. That was great timing because it allowed the reporter to witness just what the Studio Tour is all about -- introducing the public to how and why we do what we do. Read a copy of the article here.

There was another article run in the September 23 edition, with a photo and caption, "Great Falls Artists Gear Up For Tour". To read, click here.